Four Wounded in South L.A.; Gang Link Suspected

Three men walked up to a crowd gathered near 84th Street and Vermont Avenue in South Los Angeles and opened fire Saturday, wounding four, including a 9-year-old boy, and sending others diving for cover, police said.

The anti-gang Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums unit of the Los Angeles Police Department was investigating the incident Sunday.

“Several gangs are active in the area,” said Officer Aaron Martin. “The shooting had gang overtones.”

Reported in critical condition Sunday at Daniel Freeman Memorial Hospital in Inglewood was Christopher Wells, 18, who was shot several times. In stable condition were Consuela Fisher, 22, who was at Martin Luther King Jr. Hospital, and Rolanda Johnson, 21, who was at County-USC Medical Center.

Martin said the gunfire was directed at the three, who were standing with a group of friends and neighbors in front of a house in the 800 block of W. 84th Street when the shooting began about 9:30 p.m.

Ronaldo Rodriguez, 9, who was standing about 150 feet to the east, was grazed by a stray bullet, police said. He was treated at a hospital.

Martin said little is known about the suspects, whom witnesses described as being in their teens or early 20s.